Our History
In 2005, NC IDEA began with a simple focus; to grant seed funds directly to growing technology startups. Today, we are committed to challenging old thinking and practices, thereby rewriting the manual on how communities, and even statewide efforts, economically empower people. The following timeline highlights some of the important events along our journey.
In celebration of its 20th Anniversary year, NC IDEA launched a monthly video series, WATN?, featuring early grant recipients. Founders who built some of NC’s most successful companies sit down with NC IDEA’s Thom Ruhe to revisit their journeys. New episodes release monthly on the last Thursday through 2025.
In November 2024, NC IDEA reached two major milestones: the MICRO ($10K) program surpassed $2 million in funding deployed, while the SEED ($50K) program surpassed $10 million. These flagship grant programs are designed to support entrepreneurs across North Carolina to scale their high growth companies.
NC IDEA was recognized by the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center in its report, Revitalizing Innovation: Models of Equitable Entrepreneurship Across the U.S., offering a view of how each U.S. state is shaping opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs. As a result, the Foundation was spotlighted in the Nasdaq MarketSite in NYC.
In October of 2024, NC IDEA launched the Ecosysteming Podcast. Ecosysteming is the podcast redefining economic development through the lens of equitable entrepreneurship. NC IDEA’s Thom Ruhe engages with entrepreneurs and ecosystem leaders who are challenging the status quo and driving lasting change in the local and national entrepreneurial ecosystem.
NC IDEA and NCInnovation launched a partnership supporting NCI’s grants and regional innovation networks to accelerate the commercialization of promising NC public university research. This collaboration leverages NCInnovation and NC IDEA’s extensive network of entrepreneurial expertise to support regional innovation efforts and economic development across the state.
In July 2024, the ENGAGE program surpassed 400 grants—nearly $2 million awarded over seven years. About 65% supported programs serving underrepresented entrepreneurs, including those in Tier 1 or 2 counties, and minority or female founders.
In June 2024, NC IDEA and MDC released “Strengthening North Carolina’s Rural Entrepreneurship Future,” a report outlining the challenges, opportunities, and actionable steps to support rural entrepreneurs and shape a more resilient economy. The findings are guiding NC IDEA’s ongoing rural efforts.
NC IDEA establishes the North Carolina Black Entrepreneurship Council (NC BEC) and awards over $360K in grants to 8 partners advancing Black entrepreneurship
In November 2019, NC IDEA hosted the first-ever statewide Ecosystem Summit with the ambition to redefine economic development through entrepreneurship. The Summit was an unprecedented gathering of nearly 500 individuals and organizations who support, encourage and nourish NC’s entrepreneurs.
NC IDEA commits to a statewide rollout of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program with the ambitious goal to educate 100,000 North Carolinians with an entrepreneurial mindset. In December 2018, 50 individuals from across the state graduated from the Foundation’s first Ice House Facilitator Training.
The Foundation pilots NC IDEA MICRO to award smaller, validation grants in the amount of $10K to companies not yet positioned for our traditional $50K NC IDEA SEED grant. Fifteen companies were awarded grants in its inaugural cycle. Today, NC IDEA MICRO remains a signature program of the Foundation.
After the launch of NC IDEA ECOSYSTEM, there was a clear need to help facilitate access and activities to a broader group of partners across the state. NC IDEA ENGAGE grants averaging $5K or less were created to help more organizations bring together like-minded folks to celebrate entrepreneurship.
NC IDEA ECOSYSTEM was born out of the Foundation’s vision to create more opportunities for the statewide exchange of ideas, experiences and connections. In its inaugural 2016 cohort, NC IDEA welcomed eleven partners awarding a total of $1.3 million.
Thom Ruhe joins NC IDEA as CEO and President. Previously, Thom spent seven years at the Kauffman Foundation where he directed the Foundation’s programs addressing entrepreneurial education, mentoring, access to capital and fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Groundwork Labs, now known as NC IDEA LABS and a program of the Foundation, is launched with funding from NC IDEA to provide mentorship and guidance to startups too early for a grant. Unlike traditional accelerators, there was no exchange of equity; the only commitment from the founder was time.
NC IDEA moves from the Research Triangle Park to the American Tobacco Campus in downtown Durham to be closer to the center of entrepreneurial activity and the constituents we serve.
NC IDEA awards its first seven seed grants to CardioVascular Resonances, DeltaSphere, Illuminus, ImagineOptix, InsituTec, TransLoc and ZumaTek. Years later, in 2018, Durham-based transit app developer TransLoc, is acquired by a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company.
NC IDEA is created and spun out of the Microelectronic Center of North Carolina (MCNC). Did you know that the word IDEA in our name was originally chosen for its double meaning? It is also an acronym for Innovative Development for Economic Advancement.
